Zack VanderBeek chased his fellow VanderBuilt Race Cars driver, Stormy Scott, for the first 20 laps of the Rancho Milagro USRA Modified feature race Saturday night at the Southern New Mexico Speedway but heavy lapped traffic got the best of Scott with five laps to go and VanderBeek inherited the point.

Fending off several challenge from Jake O’Neil in the final stages, VanderBeek reached the checkered flag first and secured himself a spot on the front row for Sunday’s 50-lap, $20,000-to-win finale at the 18th Annual Rancho Milagro USRA Fall Nationals presented by S&S Fishing & Rental, Barnett Harley-Davidson and G3 Fitness.

The driver from New Sharon, Iowa, will start on the outside of polesitter Ricky Thornton Jr. of Chandler, Ariz., who won Friday’s preliminary feature race, and the rest of Saturday’s top five finishers—O’Neil, Bumper Jones, Dereck Ramirez and Jason Hughes—will fill the first five outside row starting spots in Sunday’s championship race.

Defending race winner Ryan Gustin wound up one spot short in sixth and will have to find his place in the main event via one of Sunday’s last-chance races.

Todd Harper was seventh, Jeremy Payne wheeled Sherman Barnett’s mount to an eighth-place effort, Adam Kates nabbed ninth and Mickey Lassiter clawed his way from the 22nd starting spot to get tenth.

In a wildly entertaining Sun Valley Hardware USRA Stock Car feature, Jamey Huskey of Slaton, Texas, came from the seventh spot to earn the $500 victory over Colby Deming and Friday’s winner, Lloyd Turner, who started 15th on the grid.

Allen Bradley came from 16th to net a fourth-place finish and Tony Hill was fifth. R.C. Combs, Traci Bradley, Donavon Flores, Jaime Torres and Victor Colorbio rounded out the top ten.

Summit USRA Weekly Racing Series national points leader Ryan Gillmore made the nearly 1,000-mile-long haul from Springfield, Mo., to Las Cruces, N.M., pay off this weekend with a victory in the Jack Key Auto Group X-Mod main event, following up last night’s runner-up finish.

Andy Bryant, whose trek from Fort Scott, Kan., was maybe ten minutes shorter than Gillmore’s route, followed in second at the finish line Saturday while Friday’s winner, Jimmy Ray came home in third.

In the feature race for The Body Works Super Trucks, Brian Kleine of Las Cruces steered his No. UNO machine to a $500 payday over four other hometown pilots: Dave Deetz, Lloyd Duffey, Chris Davis and Mike Garcia.

The Casa Nissan Legends Car nightcap went to fourth-starting Dylan Harris of El Paso, Texas, as he held off Daniel Blaeser for the $500 top prize. Cameron Sogge, 19th-starting Joshua Jackson and polesitter Cooper Guffey rounded out the top five finishers.

Sunday’s finale at the 18th Annual Rancho Milagro USRA Fall Nationals will see gates open at high noon with the first race going green at at 2 p.m. Spectator general admission is $15 and kids ages 10 & under admitted free of charge. Family Packs are also available for $35, and a pit pass is $40.

Action will feature Rancho Milagro USRA Modifieds ($20,000 to win, $1,500 to start), Jack Key Auto Group X-Mods ($1,000 to win), Sun Valley Hardware USRA Stock Cars ($1,000 to win), Casa Nissan Legends Cars ($1,000 to win) and The Body Works Super Trucks ($1,000 to win) in a complete show of qualifying heats, last-chance races and championship main events in all classes.

For those unable to attend, the entire event will be broadcast live via pay-per-view at www.SpeedShiftTV.com.

The Southern New Mexico Speedway is a high-banked 3/8-mile clay oval located 11 miles west of Las Cruces at the Southern New Mexico State Fairgrounds. Take exit 132, go left and take the frontage road south of I-10 heading west.

For more information, call (575) 524-7913 or (505) 524-7913 or visit www.SNMSpeedway.com online. You can also check us out on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SouthernNewMexicoSpeedway and follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SNMSpeedway.